Weak - R

I've been thinking a lot about weakness recently. I can probably thank Kaman Turner for that one since he usually embarrasses me during our morning workouts.

I remember in elementary school thinking I was fairly weak. I was never the fastest. Definitely not the strongest. When we did that fitness testing in fifth grade, I did a whopping total of seven push-ups. As a side note, I'm pleased to announce that after years of dedication and hard work, I can now do nine.

As I've grown up, I've focused a lot more on weaknesses in other areas, specifically as a Christian. Lack of discipline, failures in kindness, the habitual sin that I can't seem to shake, my inability to keep up with this stupid blog that brings me so much joy. I can never seem to focus on much else besides my weakness.

I think there are a lot of ways that you can describe the Bible, but one of the things that I have noticed recently is that the Bible is a humongous story of human failure. Over and over and over again, people get it wrong. Think of literally any Bible character, with the exception of Jesus, and try to find a time when they didn't fail.

You could look at this as disheartening, but I choose to think of it as God's way to tell us, when we fail for what feels like the thousandth time, that we are in very good company. God loves the screw ups! He's crazy about them! He came to die specifically for them. Remember, it's the sick people that need a doctor, and he gets to be that doctor and he loves that!

Even more than that, if we are to take Paul's word for it, our weakness is exactly what God wants.

But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us. We are hard pressed on every side,but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed. We always carry around in our body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be revealed in our body. For we who are alive are always being given over to death for Jesus’ sake, so that his life may also be revealed in our mortal body. So then, death is at work in us, but life is at work in you. It is written: “I believed; therefore I have spoken.” Since we have that same spirit of faith, we also believe and therefore speak, because we know that the one who raised the Lord Jesus from the dead will also raise us with Jesus and present us with you to himself. All this is for your benefit, so that the grace that is reaching more and more people may cause thanksgiving to overflow to the glory of God. Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.       - 2 Corinthians 4:7-18

I love this passage so much. Go read it again. I'll wait. Read it through the lens of someone with complete confidence that they are a failure. Think of who is writing this. One of the most zealous Christian-killers of the first century. And he's saying that we were made to be weak so that God's power can shine through us. We carry death around in our body with us so that life will be revealed. We waste away every single day to emphasize the renewal that God is performing in our souls.

The Bible is a humongous story of human failure, but that's not what the story is about. It is about human failure pointing back to the God who is infallible. It is about human weakness pointing back to the God who has no weakness. It is about human imperfection pointing back to the most perfect God. God, in his infinite wisdom, does not let the last word ever be our failure. Through his miraculous redemption, the final word is always God's ability. His ability to love a mess like you and me, to make something beautiful out of our lives, and to display his power through our weakness.

You're going to fail this week. You might even feel like a failure this week. Here's what you need to hear. And I know you need to hear it because I need to hear it. You're human. Messing up is part of the gig. But messing up is not the end of the story. God is at work in you, here and now, in the midst of your perfect little mess.

Celebrate your weakness at some point in the coming days. And celebrate the God who is strong in your weakness.

~RJS~